Rain, Rain Go Away

It rained and was overcast almost all of the day today :( Only about 45 degrees here and a little bit windy. Hard to believe that the weather in Iowa was probably better than the weather here today! Went to classes this morning and gave a speech. I really love the two classes I had today-Spanish Conversation and Phonetics. The professors for both are really good at teaching and keep class interesting! They are probably my favorite 2 classes.

The Spanish grading system is much different than what we have in the US. First of all, there is no such thing as Web CT, where we can go and view our scores for each assignment, test, quiz, and project. I think we will not know what are grades are until we finish the semester. When we get back assignments, the professor does not put a grade on them, but instead a word. It can say Mal, Bien, Muy Bien, or Perfecto. Each word is associated with a number on a 10 point scale:

Mal= less than 5
Bien=5-6
Muy Bien=7-8
Perfecto=9-10

Then, at the end of the course, the teacher translates those numbers into a number on a 4 point scale:

Mal=1=F
Bien=2=C
Muy Bien=3=B
Perfecto=4=A

It is a very rare occasion that professors give perfectos (9-10). Students here only have to pass the classes (Bien), so they are not very concerned about getting the highest grade possible. I am very proud to say that I got my first "Perfecto" on an essay today for my Phonetics class :)

After class, I came home on the bus because of the rain and had lunch with my sister and host mom. We had french fries! They were definitely not as good as American french fries, but still good. My host mom and sister asked me what I thought about President Obama and Bush and Sarah Palin. It is so crazy how much they know about the US. I never realized how big of an impact our country had on the world.

This afternoon, I took a siesta, skyped a friend, and went to the bus station to buy a ticket for this weekend. We are going to Madrid on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. We are getting tickets to see Real Madrid (a professional soccer team) play on Saturday night. I am SOOO excited!!!

Tonight, we all went to Cafe Dipas to meet some Spanish people and have a dialogue with them. We spoke in Spanish and they spoke in English, and we helped correct each other. It was a very good time. I met Raul, Dani, and two people named Carmen. I think we will be doing this almost every week.